Small town education start-up offers ERP solution to schools across the globe

BANGALORE: An education start-up based out of the coastal towns of Kasargod in Kerala and Mangalore in Karnataka is witnessing quick adoption of its school and college management solution product in African, Asian and South American countries. Founded in 2009 by a group of eight friends, Foradian started out as a web development company. But co-founder Unni Koroth says within two months of starting up they decided to develop an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution for educational institutions.

"There are a number of ERP products available in the market but customization is not possible and they are not easy to use as well," says Koroth. The company developed Fedena, which is hosted on the cloud and provides end-to-end school management. "It covers a student's complete educational life cycle from pre-application to the final certification," says Koroth.

Developed as an open source web application, Fedena has been downloaded across the globe. "Africa, Asia and South America are a major source of our revenue," says Koroth. While the basic version is available free of cost, the company earns its revenues from installation, customisation and training. Fedena is being used by 15,000 schools in Kerala, which follow the Kerala state syllabus. Foradian is in the process of tying up with another state.

The company, which is expecting to cross $1 million in revenue in FY 2012-13, is developing a learning management product that will be out in the market in three months.